In my experience, the absolute foundation for learning to love ourselves is forgiveness. We are human, therefore, we have all behaved in ways that we deeply regret and most of us have been treated in ways that have left us feeling deeply shamed. We all have aspects of ourselves that we feel are unacceptable and many of us have ongoing behaviours that we deem to be bad. This is especially true if you are struggling with your weight; dealing with addictive behaviours or experiencing difficult emotions such as rejection, anger, grief or jealousy.

Most people think of forgiveness only in the context of forgiving others. We believe that by forgiving others we are actually condoning their bad behaviour and letting them off the hook for the real harm they have done to us. Real forgiveness however, has little or nothing to do with the other person. It is something we do solely to bring freedom and peace to our own heart. [Read more…]